Our Initiatives

OhioMeansJobs Cleveland-Cuyahoga County

As the designated workforce development board for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, Greater Cleveland Works operates the OhioMeansJobs Center for our area. Located at 1910 Carnegie Ave, our one-stop shop is the primary way for distributing vital public WIOA (Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act) funding and providing talent matching, training, and other services to job seekers and employers.

Learn more about OMJCC

Built Environment Collaborative

Made possible by funding through the City of Cleveland, the Built Environment Collaborative is a collection of partners from across Cleveland’s workforce ecosystem united around the goal of expanding access to economic opportunity in the construction, infrastructure, and clean energy industries by providing job training, career pathways, support services, employment assistance, and small business resources.

Visit the Built Environment Collaborative

Youth Mental Health SWOT (Strengthening Workforce Opportunities Together) Team

Born from an effort initiated by Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, the Youth Mental Health SWOT Team exists to address the gap between youth needing mental health support and the number of available professionals trained and available to support them. This work includes education around career pathways, job training, and strategies for workforce retention and burnout prevention.

Health Career Acadamy

Cleveland is home to world-class healthcare systems, making healthcare one of the leading industries in our region. Yet many local K-12 students don’t have a full picture of the career opportunities and pathways with growth potential in this space, which can make many opportunities seem out of reach. The Health Career Academy is a state-registered pre-apprenticeship that brings engaging, hands-on experiences directly to students in their classrooms, during school hours.

To learn more, please contact:
Crystal Reed, Director of the Youth Mental Health SWOT Team
crystal.reed@jfs.ohio.gov

Barrier Removal Fund

Financial challenges can be a significant deterrent to pursuing training for a career with higher earning potential, and impact the ability to stay in a job. Affording everyday expenses can create a dynamic where people are forced to choose between jobs that promise upward mobility or trying to make ends meet in the present. For some job seekers, we can provide financial support for some job-specific gear and equipment, childcare, housing, and other expenses. For certain small and minority-owned businesses, we are able to cover expenses that support growth and expanded capacity. Note: Barrier removal funding is currently limited to Cleveland-based job seekers and businesses who are involved with the Built Environment Collaborative.

Arena

Greater Cleveland Works is the first workforce board in the country to implement a custom-build of the Arena.io platform. This AI-enabled talent-matching platform uses retention prediction to suggest matches to job seekers for employers and jobs they are most likely to succeed and stay with, strategically supporting the work of career coaches to allow them to focus on the highly interpersonal aspects of their work, including conversations with job seekers on the roles that align best with strengths and interests.

Career Navigator Initiative with Urban League of Greater Cleveland

With special funding from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services (ODJFS), the Career Navigator Initiative with the Urban League of Greater Cleveland supports outreach and recruitment, training and upskilling, enrollment in apprenticeships, and placement into full-time employment for Black and underserved job seekers in Cuyahoga County.

To learn more, please contact:
Marcus Harris, Director of Programs & Services
marcus.harris@jfs.ohio.gov

Partnership with Greater Cleveland Food Bank – Community Resource Center

Greater Cleveland Works, together with Towards Employment and MAGNET, maintains a presence at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s Community Resource Center to provide support to neighbors and get them connected with local workforce resources.

Learn more about the Food Bank CRC